Lyons and Boulder and More Rocky Mountain National Park
June 26, Monday: Estes Park, CO to Lyons, CO
This is our last day in Estes Park – we ran up to the Beaver Meadows, but saw nothing that remotely resembled beaver or beaver dams. We decided to try going to the open section of Fall River Road to see if the big horn sheep were in the meadow. They weren’t, but there were some females and a lamb on the rock outcropping across the road. Still no moose, though.
We left the campground and Rocky Mountain National Park around 10:30 to go to Meadow Park campground in Lyons. Meadow Park is a nice small park – 9 spaces with full hookups with a pretty river. It is a little pricey at $28, but nice and close to Boulder and Longmont where we’ll spend time with Linnie and her family.
We had lunch and then drove out to interstate 25 to find Camping World as we needed a new blind by the dining room table, a new light switch in the bathroom and toilet paper. (For those folks who are wondering why we are mentioning toilet paper, it is because we need special biodegradable paper that disintegrates quickly.) Camping World essentially told us it would be lots cheaper to buy the blind somewhere else, like Home Depot, and install it ourselves and they didn’t have the switch.
We continued south to Boulder and stopped at NCAR which is the National Center for Atmospheric Research – a little too scientific/educational for our tastes, but it gave us a chance to tour around Boulder a little. Back at the RV, we had dinner, showers and got ready to go to Linnie’s to visit when the hairdryer fried itself. So on the way, we had to search around to find a replacement, and didn’t arrive at Linnie’s until 8:30. Linnie’s house looks fabulous and her garden and yard are lush and wonderful.
June 27, Tuesday: Lyons, CO
Golf day for Jack at Twin Peaks – not too far from Linnie’s. I dropped him off and went with Linnie to the doctor’s for her wounded finger and then out for a nice lunch. We had just enough time to take a little drive (don't you love the warning signs for this curve?), walk around the little town of Niwot and return to Linnie’s before Jack called to say he was on the 18th hole.
After picking up Jack, we decided to stop at the Celestial Seasonings factory for a tour. The tour guide was informative and funny. I found the cutest china tea set for Zoe’s birthday present in their gift shop. We returned to the RV for dinner and some frustrating evening TV – the picture is terrible and the shows are mostly reruns.
June 28, Wednesday: Lyons, CO
We drove up the Peak to Peak scenic highway through the mountains almost to Rocky Mountain National Park, despite the threatening weather. We walked a mile around Lily Lake and watched the fishermen in these cute mini-pontoon boats. The inflatable boats had a sling in the middle where they sat, with their feet in the water. The fishermen used flippers on their feet to propel the boat around.
We stopped at a beautiful river rock church and then drove back south to the Wild Basin portion of the Park and walked up to Cascade Falls – a beautiful short hike and had a nice picnic along the river.
After lunch, we drove the Peak to Peak Highway down to Boulder and took Banjo Billy’s bus tour of Boulder. What a hoot! The bus is an old school bus that was shingled on the outside. Originally it was supposed to look like a rustic mountain lodge, but it turned out to look like a hillbilly shack, thus the name Banjo Billy’s.
The seats were old castoff living room furniture, including a couch and a couple of recliners. The ceiling was covered in a fabric tent – ala a college dorm and a disco ball was hanging from the center. The tour included history, goofiness, and ghost and crime stories. 
This was the first bus tour I’ve been on where it began by stopping at the liquor store so some guys on the tour with us could pick up some beer!
After our tour, we drove to the Verizon store in east Boulder so Jack’s phone could be fixed. We drove through the old mountain town of Gold Hill on the return, but it was much larger and different than I remembered. I wanted to show Jack what I vividly remembered seeing on my last visit many years ago -- dogs lazing on the house roofs and a great sign in the middle of the dirt-street town indicating mileage to various parts of the world, but alas, no dogs or signs to be seen this time.
We returned to Boulder to meet Linnie, Ben and Keith at the sidewalk café of the historic Boulderado Hotel for a drink. We had a hamburger dinner at Tom’s Tavern on the Pearl Street Mall and afterwards walked around the Mall, listening to a band on the plaza and checked out a few shops.
June 29, Thursday: Lyons, CO
We played nine holes at Sunset Golf Course – a beautiful course with views of the mountains, lots of trees and lush fairways. The great conditions didn’t help my golf game at all. It was very hot and a couple of holes had steep hill climbs, especially number 8 – a real tough hike up to the green. We were exhausted after only nine holes.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the Verizon store where Jack got a new phone as they were unable to fix the old one and he returned the new battery he purchased the day before. We stopped at the store for wine and cheesecake to take to dinner at Linnie’s. She made a delicious meal and we had a great time.
